A Realization, or two...or three

Me and Jenna and our babies (two days apart)

This was my first uncontrolled baby passing around event. I was pretty nervous the whole time and kept craning my neck to track the baby. Some kind soul would notice this and would point to whoever had Rachel at the time. I suppose this is what Brother Steed meant when he said to "keep your head on a swivel," although he was talking about how to avoid sticky situations while living in the Middle East. I think it is perfectly applicable for keeping your eye on your baby while she changes arms a thousand times, too. I don't feel too bad about being nervous though because I caught Jenna doing the same thing a few times and she rarely worries about anything.

The new oldest generation

My family is pretty big, and we're pretty close, too. We still hold family reunions for my great-grandparent's generation even though all of the "grandparents" are gone. They've been replaced by our parents who are now the grandparents. And we've replaced the parents as the parents, which is kind of a scary thought. Perhaps I would feel younger if I wasn't one generation down on the totem pole, but alas, I have been replaced by Rachel.


Elizabeth got married this past weekend, and even though we got all four of my mom's siblings together, we were still missing a whole lot of cousins, and other relatives. From Uncle Bruce's family we were missing Heather (2.5), Rachel (4), 2 more boys of Sara's, and Mindy's husband for a total of 9.5 people. From Auntie Colleen we were missing Uncle LeRon, Craig, Eric, and Andy for a total of 4. Auntie Arlene did the best: only Uncle Michael stayed behind. And from our family, my sister Abra and her three kids as well as 3 of Kelli's kids were absent for a total of 7. We were missing 21.5 people from our family gathering, unless I forgot more people. Even more relatives are missing from the picture because some were out changing diapers...and we didn't have all the Breitenstiens in the picture yet.

The 21.5 is possible because my cousin Heather G. is expecting, which is why she didn't come. Another one of my cousins, Heather T., is moving to Chicago. Someone mentioned to Andrew that "Heather is expecting," and he says, "What?! Why is she moving to Chicago then?" He was scandalized that she wasn't married, was pregnant, and was moving to Chicago...until I reminded him that we went to my other cousin Heather' wedding last spring. She's the one expecting.

Breakfast just isn't breakfast at our house unless you have a confusing conversation about relatives. (Sorry Rachel, but I forgot that Mary's daughter is Rachel...and that Sara has a Rachel...so you are Rachel #3 in the family. You have a first cousin once removed and a second cousin named Rachel as well).

My beautiful Rachel

My own siblings haven't managed to get together for like 6 years! There are only 18 of us with all the grandkids. I therefore think it is time to throw the torch--be yours to hold it high...We need to start an Arnold and Pearl Conrad reunion. The Hancock reunion is great, but there are so many people to visit with and I can't think of a time when we've had all the cousins together. It's high time we did something about that.

Family picture

The happy couple

Wearing mommy's dress

David & Vance, Andrew & Rachel

Holding hands